digest
How to Start Keto Correctly
How to start keto correctly
Welcome. Today we're going to show you how to start keto correctly, and this is for beginners. What are we trying to do? We're trying to switch what your body is running on as far as fuel goes. We want to switch from burning sugar fuel to burning fat fuel. There's one hormone called insulin, which is the key to determining whether you're going to burn fat or burn sugar. So you want to keep it low to burn fat. When it goes higher, your body will burn sugar.
Very simply, lower your carbs and eat fewer meals. That's different from lowering your calories. By eating fewer meals you are going to lower your calories, but that's not the goal. You could actually eat larger meals, just not as frequently. Why is it a good idea to eat less frequent meals? Because every time you eat, you trigger insulin, and every time you eat carbs, you trigger insulin. So we're just trying to lower this insulin. The combination of these two is very, very powerful.
Keto basics
So what are you going to eat in a meal? First, you have to eat low carb, so you want to cut down all your carbs. That includes sugar, and I'm talking about honey, agave nectar, brown sugar, white sugar, date sugar, all sugar. You can replace it in various recipes with what are called sugar alcohols. I put some links below with examples of that so you can learn about them. There are these sweet alternative sugar sources that you can use.
That means when you go buy food, you have to start reading the labels and looking at the sugar content. You want it as close to zero as possible. You want to avoid fruit except for berries. There are three berries: raspberries, strawberries, and blackberries. You can have those in small amounts, but no other fruit, especially apples. Avoid grains like wheat flour that they make breads, pasta, cereal, crackers, and biscuits from. But there's a substitute. People use almond flour to make all sorts of things, from pizza crust to bread to you name it. There are a lot of recipes you can use as an alternative to grains.
Avoid starches like potatoes, but there are recipes you can make out of cauliflower that are very similar to starches. Not identical, but you can make things that taste very close to mashed potatoes. You can even make a cauliflower crust for your pizza, and it's quite good.
When I say cut out all the carbs, there's an exception: vegetables. In fact, you want to consume more vegetables, at least seven cups, even more. That could be salads or other types of vegetables like bell peppers, cabbage, broccoli, kale, and Brussels sprouts. At the level I'm teaching you, you can even have carrots, tomatoes, and beets. Don't worry about those; you can have them.
The last point about vegetables is that ideally, if you eat them first, it's going to be a lot easier to consume seven cups than after you've had the protein and fat, because this will fill you up pretty fast. So I always consume the vegetables first. You can consume them at the same time, but as a strategy to make sure you get enough vegetables in your diet, I like to eat these first, because very few people consume enough vegetables. One last point: vegetables provide two things. They provide food for your microbes, which then help your blood sugars and help give you energy. They also provide a lot of nutrients like potassium, magnesium, and even vitamin C. Because what are we trying to do? We're trying to do keto correctly, and by correctly I mean healthily.
Number two: moderate protein. Not massive amounts like on the Atkins diet, but moderate amounts. That could depend on your size, your metabolism, and your age, between three and eight ounces. Maybe you're 18 years old and you work out hardcore; you're going to need more protein. Rather than have a little scale and measure it, just consume protein the size of the palm of your hand, maybe a little more or a little less. To keep it simple at this level, what types of protein? Different types of meat, fish, chicken, seafood, eggs, and cheese, unless you have an allergy or a severe gut issue. Nuts or nut butters also work. Make sure that if you buy peanut butter or anything else, you read the ingredients to confirm it doesn't have added sugar. You don't want to add sugar to any of these. Sometimes deli meats contain dextrose or extra sugar, and if you're having bacon, they may have added sugar. Preferably, keep sugar away from your protein.
As far as the order of eating, you've just eaten your vegetables and salad, so now you start with your protein. The key with protein is not to consume lean or low-fat protein. Try to consume protein that has more fat, because that helps your insulin levels. When you consume protein that's very low fat and lean, like powders, especially whey protein powder, you majorly increase insulin compared with consuming fattier meat, fattier fish, or cheeses like brie, which have more fat. That's a really key point about protein.
The third thing is that you're on a higher-fat diet. When we talk about higher fats, we're mainly talking about calories. There are more than twice as many calories in fat as there are in protein or carbs, so based on calories, it would be a higher-fat diet. I'm not going to say more to confuse you on that point, but realize that when you consume protein, you're already consuming a lot of the fat in your diet, because protein always comes with fat. You may add some additional fats, such as avocado, or butter to cook your food in, or melt butter on your vegetables, which is a good idea because vegetables contain certain fat-soluble natural chemicals that are good for you, including antioxidants called phytonutrients. Adding oil to your salad, whether olive oil or butter over your vegetables, will help you extract those nutrients from the meal. That's why it's good to combine these things. Olives or olive oil are very good, and coconut oil is also pretty good. Some of these fall in the fat category, like nuts, or are half fat and half protein. A little carb, cheese is protein and fat, and eggs are protein and fat. So a lot of these are fat too, and both are kind of a combination. If you're starting keto, people often add nuts or cheese after the meal to feel more satisfied. That's why I said to eat this third, but of course it could be within the meal.
There are certain fats you definitely want to avoid: soy oil, corn oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, even safflower oil and sunflower oil. I would be careful about consuming too much of those. They are often GMO and contain chemicals, and the problem is they're highly inflammatory. Even though they're fats, they're the wrong type of fat for your body. You probably see these in salad dressings and many products, like mayonnaise. You'll have to start reading labels and get pickier about what you buy.
So we've talked about generally what to eat, but we also want to talk about eating fewer meals, less frequently. We're going to do intermittent fasting, and we're going to combine both of these to bring insulin down to a normal level.
Adding intermittent fasting
Here's the rule of thumb: don't eat unless you are hungry. Let me define hungry, because sometimes you might get a little hunger but still feel strong and fine, and your mood is good. We'll try to push through that. There's also a difference between hunger and habit. People have a habit of eating all the time, even when they're not hungry, because they feel they're not as full as they should be. You don't have to be full all the time. We're talking about true hunger: "Wow, I really need to eat, I feel a little weaker, a little shaky, I'm starting to notice I'm more irritable." That is what we're talking about, not some small temporary hunger.
Number two: ideally, skip breakfast. You can do this gradually, pushing your breakfast later and later, or cut it out right away. Instead, have your coffee with a tablespoon of butter and/or MCT oil. This will greatly help you make ketones, which are very therapeutic for your brain, and it will satisfy you. As you transition into ketosis, when you are burning fat, ketones are a byproduct of burning fat. If you add MCT oil, you'll get ketones right away, and it will make the transition more comfortable, especially for your cognitive function. This is a good idea, and if you have this coffee with these two fats, it will be very easy to skip breakfast. I also want to note that around 8 a.m. is when you have a hormonal shift, and cortisol may go up. You may find a temporary sense of about half an hour where you feel ready to eat something. It's the cortisol, a hormonal shift, and it can increase your appetite. Just ignore that and push through. So we're skipping breakfast at this point.
Number three, very importantly: do not snack through the day. Even a small snack, though low in calories, will make you hungry, because eating stimulates hunger, especially in the form of a snack. Cut out all snacking. It's very important. If you feel the temptation to snack, realize that you didn't consume enough fat at the last meal, so add more fat to the next meal so you can go easily from one meal to the next. Adding more fat helps you go longer. There are a lot of details to fill in, but typically you can drink water, tea, coffee, or anything without sugar. You can take your vitamins, and it won't be a problem. Again, there are many details I'm not covering, but I'm giving you the basics. Say your first meal is at noon. Eat your meal, and don't worry about calories at this point, because we're not trying to reduce calories. All we're trying to do is make sure that first meal fits what I described. Then the second meal is at six, which gives you a six-hour eating window and an 18-hour fast. If you don't snack, which is huge, you'll see many benefits from this program.
Need keto consulting?
That is the summary of how to do keto correctly. Before you go: if you have a question about a product, or you're new to keto and want to know how to begin, or you're already on keto and need help because it's not going smoothly, I have a keto consultant standing by to help you. This is just for people in the US. Hopefully in the future we'll be able to answer everyone's call, but I've put the number below so you can call and get some help.